Friday, April 3, 2009

Breaking the Rules of Engagement

Making an impact as an artist can be difficult even for the insanely talented. I have had many many gifted artists work for me over the years and watched them struggle in spite of their prodigious talent. Why? I have no clue. But I do have one suggestion, break the rules. Not in terms of your art, but in terms of gaining new business. We have a tendency as artists to think that our work is the only barometer. That one look at our portfolio and the pearly gates of destiny will sweep open and rose petals will be floated in our path to grand success. I only wish it were true. Our work either sets us a part or shows that we are capable of doing the work of any given work provider. That's it. The most important aspect is how you present yourself, are you a creative, and inventive person. That doesn't mean wear black nail polish, dye your hair blue, and talk about the spirituality of rodents. Don't freak people out, be inventive. Find an interesting way to present who you are. Find an inventive way to make contact and be noticed without burning down the building. We once needed information from agencies that they were no longer willing to give out. What did we do? We represented ourselves as a professional agency information service that would help them keep track of creative services of any agency. We cheated, got the information we needed and were never heard from again as The "Creative Directory", but this was also before caller ID.